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Where Does The Word "Nerd" Come From?

June 29, 2015

Written byCuriosity Staff

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The first printed instance of the word "nerd" occurs in the Dr. Seuss book "If I Ran the Zoo," published in 1950. The passage lists "a nerd" as one of the fantastical animals that the protagonist would put in his zoo. The text reads: "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo/And bring back an It-Kutch, a Preep and a Proo/ A Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too!" One year later, Newsweek magazine included the word in an article with its now-familiar definition: someone who's a "drip" or a "square." Some people believe that "nerds" popular usage evolved from the 1940s slang term "nert," which describes a "stupid or crazy person."